And forget for a second that the money spent on those licenses goes directly to fund fish and wildlife conservation at state levels.

Just look at buying a license from a purely self-serving perspective.

In Texas, getting caught fishing or hunting without a license puts a person at risk of a criminal fine of as much as $500. Then there’s the civil restitution for any fish or game taken while fishing or hunting without a license. That can run into the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

The pure economics of it should be enough incentive to convince folks that buying a license is a wise investment.

A lot of people, though, appear willing to take the risk. Fishing without a license and hunting without a license are among the most common citations Texas game wardens write.

Changes during the past couple of decades have made it even more risky for some folks who don’t buy licenses before going fishing or hunting.

Almost all licenses are now sold via computer, with records of that transaction instantly entered into an electronic database. That record includes personal information (name, address, date of birth, etc.) about the buyer as well as what licenses and special-use stamps they purchased, where they bought the license and – this is important – the date and time (to the second) they purchased the license.

That information is easily accessed by game wardens, and has led to some interesting cases tied to folks’ greed, ego or hubris.

Texas game wardens have made several cases involving hunters who tried to “get legal” retroactively, buying a hunting license after they have taken an animal. Invariably, these cases have been the result of an unlicensed hunter (a poacher, really) taking an especially heavily-antlered buck and deciding to try entering it in a big-buck contest.

The poacher buys a license after the fact so the deer can be tagged, appear legal and be accepted as a contest entry.

If something or someone tips off contest officials or game wardens that the entered deer isn’t quite kosher, it’s simple for a warden to look at the entry form, see when the poacher reported shooting the deer, then check the license database to see when the person bought a license. Poachers, it turns out, are surprisingly scrupulous about the particulars of their hunt when filling out contest entry forms.

These cases aren’t limited to hunting licenses, nor are they limited to Texas.

Earlier this month, an Arkansas angler was hooked for fishing without a license and faces a fine of as much as $1,000 and 30 days in jail.

The guy probably wouldn’t have been caught if he’d hadn’t landed a huge largemouth bass that weighed more than the current Arkansas record for the hugely popular game fish.

Seems angler Paul Crowder took the 16-pound, 5-ounce bass, which weighed one ounce more than the largemouth that has held the state record since 1976, to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission offices to have it certified as the new state record.

Because he didn’t have a valid fishing license, Crowder sent a friend to buy the $10.50 license while he was arranging to have Arkansas Game and Fish Commission GFC staff officially weigh and certify the fish.

Arkansas officials, who initially announced Crowder’s fish as the pending state record, checked the license database to make certain Crowder held a valid license and found his fishing license had been purchased three hours after he’d caught the bass.

You won’t find citations for no fishing license in this week’s selection of recent cases and incidents worked by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game wardens. It’s certainly not because there weren’t any. It’s just because, sadly, they’re so common they’re hardly news.

Wharton County Game Warden Chris Bird received a call March 1 from a Danevang resident who believed a juvenile bald eagle had been taken from a nest in the area.

The caller reported overhearing a neighbor talking the day before about taking a baby eagle to raise and keep as a pet.

The caller, an avid bird watcher, had been keeping an eye on a bald eagle nest that was in a large tree on the neighbor’s property.

Observing that the nest was now empty, the citizen called Warden Bird.

After arriving on scene, Warden Bird found fresh ATV tracks and footprints around the base of the tree that contained the nest.

He followed the ATV tracks to a residence on the property, but found no one at home.

Running the plates on a vehicle that was at the residence, he came up with an address in Missouri City, and while in route to that address he contacted U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Stacy Campbell for assistance.

Bird and Campbell contacted a woman at the Missouri City address who turned out to be the ex-wife of the owner of the Danevang property.

She informed Bird and Campbell that her ex-husband had just been by there, had mentioned to her that he was planning on purchasing an eagle for a pet, and was supposedly in route back to the Danevang property.

Warden Bird and Agent Campbell returned to Danevang, and contacted the individual at the property.

Continuing their investigation, Bird and Campbell separated the property owner and two employees who were at the location.

One of the employees told the officers that his boss had made him climb the tree the night before and drop the baby eagle down to his boss and the other employee, who caught the eagle in a sheet.

When the other employee confirmed that story, Warden Bird and Agent Campbell demanded to know where the eaglet was.

The property owner finally confessed and took the officers into a barn on the property, where they retrieved the approximately one-month-old juvenile bald eagle.

The eagle was taken to a rehabilitator who specializes in eagles, and the case was turned over to USFWS for prosecution.

While patrolling in Colorado County on Feb. 25, a TPWD game warden responded to a vehicle pursuit involving a DPS trooper and a stolen vehicle.

The suspect ditched the stolen truck along a canal bordered by a cornfield and fled on foot carrying a bag and headed toward the brush line.

The suspect had dropped the bag and was hiding in the thick brush when the trooper and warden searched the area and found the suspect.

The suspect was apprehended without incident when given verbal commands.

He then revealed to the officers that he was transporting the stolen truck between Houston and a location along the border so that it could be used to transport drugs and illegal aliens.

Three other stolen trucks were traveling with the suspect.

Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses was returning home from a March 6 TPWD Public Hearing in Denison when, about 9 p.m. he noticed a person lying in the bar ditch along a farm-to-market road.

Warden Moses turned around to check on the subject, who, it turned out, was a highly intoxicated man.

When Warden Moses woke the subject, the man said he had no idea where he was or what town he was in. He did remember being on a bus in Dallas earlier in the day and remembered drinking a 12-pack of beer.

The Grayson County Sheriff’s Office was advised and they stated that there had been eight reports of a subject in the area walking in the middle of the road earlier in the evening.

Warden Moses arrested the subject for public intoxication and transported him to the Grayson County Jail.

Montgomery County Game Warden Brannon Meinkowsky on March 3 stopped an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) operating illegally.

A check of the ATV showed it to have been stolen in December.

After a short investigation by law enforcement, the driver of the ATV was charged with felony theft.

Case pending.

During the crab trap closure period in February, Orange County Game Wardens and Jefferson County Game Wardens picked up 71 abandoned crab traps from the Sabine Lake bay system.

In addition to finding a small amount of marijuana, wardens located one crew member s found hiding in a storage compartment within the cabin.

Three crew members were arrested by DPS for entering the United States illegally from Mexico.

The captain of one of the shrimp boats was issued a citation for exceeding his limit of sheepshead fish.

Cases pending.

Fort Bend County Warden Barry Eversole, acting on information sent to the TPWD website, on March 4 contacted a Needville resident who was reportedly in possession of a pet alligator.

The female resident was cooperative and took Eversole to a large dog kennel in the backyard, where a seven-foot alligator was being kept.

The woman told Eversole that the gator belonged to her ex-husband, and that he had possessed the gator for several years.

Eversole issued a warning citation to the resident and relocated the gator to an alligator farm in the district.

Galveston County Game Wardens Bobby Kana, Adam Clark and Vu Nguyen seized 3,677 pounds of red snapper from a commercial snapper boat on March 2.

The vessel had off-loaded the cargo of fish before making the required individual fishing quota (IFQ) notification.

The fish were sold for $17,281.90.

Cases pending.

While checking fishermen at Lady Bird Lake, Travis County Game Warden Chad West came across bank fishermen who said they were not having any luck.

Warden West saw a backpack, which one of the subjects stated belonged to him, on the ground.

West noticed the backpack was moving.

Inside the backpack was a sack containing many black bass – seven of which were over the bag limit or violated size regulations.

Cases pending.

Val Verde County Game Warden Isaac Ruiz has been investigating a recent incident of trespass along the Devils River.

A group of “spring breakers” ill-prepared for the challenges of paddling the isolated, physically demanding Devil River put their paddlecraft on the river late in the afternoon and decided to camp out on private property after going only 2 miles of what is a 25-mile trip.

Officers located and contacted the group on the river the next morning.

The landowner has indicated that he wishes for charges to be filed.

Trinity County Game Wardens Sam Shanafelt and Randy Watts followed up this month on an Operation Game Thief call about a man killing more white-tailed deer than legally allowed over the past few years.

The wardens interviewed the subject, and he confessed to killing 20 deer in three years. Ten of these deer were illegally taken.

The subject admitted to trespassing for most of the deer and stealing a game camera.

During the interview, the subject informed wardens that a family member tagged a deer for another individual. Citations were issued to both individuals for hunting under the license of another, and allowing another to hunt under his license.

Civil restitution is also pending.

Game Warden Brandt Bernstein and Cadet Dulock were contacted March 17 by Bell County advising there was a wind surfer who had lost his board and was still attached to the sail and being dragged out into the lake.

Warden Bernstein and Cadet Dulock launched their boat and searched for the victim, whom they discovered had been found by anglers who were pulling the person into their boat. Warden advised the rescuers to get the victim to shore.

The victim, who was not wearing a lifejacket, was transported to the hospital for treatment.